Jan. 23, 2010
Box Score
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WASHINGTON - The No. 19/18 Georgetown University women's basketball squad had another close call Saturday afternoon but managed to come away with the 74-65 victory over the DePaul University Blue Demons (13-7, 2-4 BIG EAST) at McDonough Arena. The Hoyas allowed the Blue Demons to pull within one in the second half but rallied for the win. GU has now won its 16th-straight game and improves to 17-2 overall as well as 6-0 in the BIG EAST.
DePaul jumped out to an early lead with a 10-point advantage just five minutes into the game as the Blue Demons broke the Georgetown press with ease and the Blue & Gray committed a pair of turnovers. However, a three by Rubylee Wright (Latta, S.C./Latta) at 15:02 sparked a 14-0 run as the Blue Demons committed six-consecutive turnovers and Georgetown took a four-point lead.
"Our coaches always tell us that basketball is a game of being up or down," said Jaleesa Butler (St. Louis, Mo./Alton). "We were down at that point but the coaches got us in the huddle and fired us up...we just do what we do, which is get steals and put points on the board."
The Hoyas continued to pressure, forcing turnovers and missed shots throughout the first half, going up by as much as 15 in the first after Monica McNutt (Suitland, Md./Academy of the Holy Cross) hit a three with 29 seconds remaining. Georgetown went into the break leading 40-27.
Ta'Shauna "Sugar" Rodgers (Suffolk, Va./King's Fork) led the Hoyas in the first half with 11 points while Butler and McNutt added eight each. Butler had a team-high five rebounds in the first. Georgetown outrebounded DePaul 17-16 and forced 14 Blue Demon turnovers while shooting 44.4 percent from the field.
Despite a commanding lead going into the half, the Hoyas once again allowed an opponent right back in as DePaul cut the lead to just one at 13:19 after Keisha Hampton took control. The Georgetown coaching staff called timeout to regroup which led to a pair of free throws from sophomore Tia Magee (Tulas, Okla./Jenks).
"Coach thinks we're trying to give her a heart attack, but honestly we're still growing," said McNutt. "I don't know how many teams could let teams back in and still pull out a W so we commend each other for that aspect of it but we're continuing to grow."
Clinging to a single-digit lead, the Hoyas gradually began building it back up when sophomore Adria Crawford (Arlington, Va./Thomas Edison) came up with some big buckets. GU led by 14 points with four minutes remaining and even a small challenge from the Blue Demons could not stop the Hoyas as Georgetown went on to win 74-65.
Rodgers led the Blue & Gray with 18 points and Butler posted her fourth double-double of the season with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Georgetown outrebounded DePaul 37-33 and forced 20 turnovers on 14 steals. The GU bench contributed with 17 points in the game.
Next up for the Hoyas is Marquette University on Wednesday. Georgetown will travel to Milwaukee, Wis., for an 8 p.m. ET matchup. Live stats will be available at www.GUHoyas.com.
